Local residents oppose asphalt plant at hearing

About 150 to 170 people turned out at the Sparta Auditorium Nov. 21 for a public hearing held by the North Carolina Division of Air Quality. The hearing stemmed from Maymead Materials Inc. of Mountain City, Tenn., which earlier had applied for an air quality permit to operate a plant on N.C. 18 in Laurel Springs.

The air quality permit is a required step for the company before it could build and operate an asphalt plant at the location of the former Laurel Springs school. However, the Alleghany County Board of Commissioners have passed a zoning ordinance that would forbid the opening of the plant. Company officials earlier said the ordiance will not hinder the company’s plans because the process began before the ordinance was in place.

A total of 32 individuals spoke at the hearing. During the course of the comments, there were many requests made to Donnie Redmond, the assistant planning chief of the Division of Air Quality, that the DAQ table or deny the company’s request.

Numerous Alleghany residents made known their opposition to the plant. Some of the speakers did not properly identify themselves, while many others reiterated a similar message. Some of the speakers who made comments at the hearing are listed below.

Speakers

Ken Kern, who identified himself as a member of Laurel Springs Baptist Church, commented, “I wonder if the Division of Air Quality can assure the Laurel Springs Baptist Church, which has been in this valley 114 years, that this odor will not prevail during Sunday church services, Wednesday night prayer service, weddings, funerals, revivals and other church functions. I wonder if the Division of Air Quality of North Carolina can assure that chemical emissions from the asphalt plant will not harm the tombstones in Laurel Springs cemetery and result in having them defaced long before their time. It is my understanding the proposed asphalt plant is the shortest distance — 1,100 feet — than any asphalt plant is from any other church property in North Carolina.” Shirley Hall said her land surrounds the proposed site.

“My open spring is within 100 feet of this proposed asphalt plant,” Hall said. “My cattle graze in the surrounding area of the proposed asphalt plant. Everybody in the mountains knows that smoke does come down. All the poison will go into the grass, go in the water, it will go into my trout stream that runs about 200 feet from the proposed site. If my cattle graze on this poison grass and die, if anything happens to them...if they get in down there, I probably won’t be living too long, but I hope my boys will carry on and do something about it."

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